News from 8/2009

Last Friday, I took a break from mailing CDs to your favorite radio stations to check out another free show at the Mural Amphitheater in Seattle Center (Sponsored by KEXP).

The first band to hit the stage was British Columbia’s Johnny And The Moon. They played a pretty rad set, starting the night off right for those who got there early to drink some PBRs and enjoy the sunshine.

Next up were Sub Pop’s Hardly Art buddies The Moondoggies. They played an awesome set, including songs like “Ain’t No Lord” and “Bogachiel Rain Blues” (see a video here). The Crowd closest to the stage definitely represented the diversity of The Moondoggies’ fanbase—from little kids, to trendy twenty-somethings, to people who may or may not have been homeless, to guys that look like my dad. Everyone was diggin’ it!

Last up was Sub Pop’s own Fruit Bats. I’ve been a big fan of theirs since my early high school years, so it’s always thrilling to see them play live! The show was stellar as usual. They mostly played songs from their new album “The Ruminant Band” (out now!), such as “Tegucigalpa” (see a video here) and “My Unusual Friend”. Fruit Bats closed the set with some older songs like “When U Love Somebody” (classic!).

Though this was the last of KEXP’s free concerts at The Mural this summer, Seattleites can check out Sub Pop Bands like Eugene Mirman, No Age, The Helio Sequence, and Sera Cahoone at Bumbershoot, September 5th-7th.

Holy shit, look who’s back from the grave! That’s right, PWWH has come off hiatus, and out of hiding, to bring you an insider’s look into the secret life of Rosie T, our receptionist at Sub Pop HQ. I was super frustrated with Rosie for a long while, at least a year even, because she didn’t know the difference between me and Carly and she would always call us by the wrong name. She put a labeled picture of me up at her desk, though, and now she knows the difference, so we’re all cool. Let’s see…Rosie eats garden burgers for breakfast and pretends they’re hashbrowns, she has a super cool dog named Willie who bit the mailman, she bought a house recently, and she always adds extra condiments to her sandwiches at lunch. Let’s meet Rosie!

L: So, your dad owns a lot of stuff, including, at one point, Muzak. Did you have to listen to a lot of elevator music when you were growing up? Tell me about how the whole Muzak process works. Also, since Jonathan Poneman used to work there and your dad used to be his boss, can you please find out some good stories about him and his time there? Mark and Bruce, too! Tell him to spill the beans!

R: You’re right, he does. He owns two dogs, Toba and Pheobe. A parrot named Buzz. Lots of socks and sandals and belts. He also owns a lot of window squeegees for some reason… he really like those. [Don’t be shy…he also owns an ISLAND! AN ISLAND!! –Ed.] As for Muzak, I was really young, but I’ll tell you what I know. It’s funny how everything’s come full circle. My dad ran a company called Yesco Foreground Music, [I see what he’s doing there with the “foreground” thing—nice strategy, Mr. Torrance. –ed.] that’s where JP worked in the tape duplication department. Yesco pioneered licensing and programming of original artist pop music for commercial establishments. Before Yesco the only “Rock and Roll” available in a store or bar (well, legally, I guess) was from a Juke Box playing 45’s. I’m told most the tapes JP duplicated at Yesco went into bars, nightclubs and retails stores. As far as I know he didn’t touch any “elevator music” let alone listen to it. I guess when Muzak wanted to get more “rock” in their catalog they contracted that work with Yesco. And later Yesco (my dad and his partners) bought Muzak with some other investors. As for bean spillage… I asked Mark for some dirt on Bruce from when he worked at Muzak. He told me Bruce used to mail out Sub Pop 100 LPs and Green River promo from the warehouse on Muzak’s dime, which I think is pretty ironic and awesome. [Super ironic, considering Mark is a mail nazi now. –ed] I also heard JP wore the same pair of underwear every day. I guess he was superstitious in those days and didn’t want to lose his touch. He never once went to the bathroom in that office either, which I find kind of suspect…. [Hmmm, so he’s been like that for years, huh? Now I don’t have to take him going home to pee so personally. –ed] There definitely wasn’t any “elevator music” happening during my formative years. There was a period in the late 80’s when there was too much Phil Collins happening for my taste, but luckily that was temporary. My parents came of age in the 60’s, and both listened to what you would expect. I remember a lot of Beatles, Stones, Pink Floyd and Joni Mitchell growing up. Stories of Dad setting up light shows for the Grateful Dead, Jimmy Hendrix shows at Seattle Center, and Altamont. [You mean “who’s fighting and what for” Altamont?! –ed.] Not what you would expect coming from Muzak Man.

L: You went to boarding school—what was that like? I’ve seen a lot of movies…is there really that much making out?

R: I didn’t go to boarding school. [Fuck. –ed.] My sister did, and she says, “Yes there really is that much making out.” [Yes! –ed.]

L: I heard you ran a marathon once without ever training. Why? How’d that work out for you?

R: Ya, that was really stupid of me. Let’s just say it was about 5 hours of pure hell. I guess I signed up for it because I was sort of in a rut and wanted to do something positive. I went through with the run having not trained because I had raised a bunch of money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society through Team in Training. I had to hold up my end of the bargain. My sister mailed me a Percocet from New York which I popped at about mile 17, maybe that’s why I was able to finish. [Give your sister my address, please. –ed.] Altruistically saving face for 26.2 miles. I don’t recommend it. I walked like a penguin for a full week and a half after that bright idea.

L: Let’s talk about music. What was your favorite band in high school? College? Now? What’s the first show you ever saw? What’s the last show you saw?

R: I was a skater chick for the first couple years of high school (the poser kind). I listened to a lot of Sublime and Beastie Boys. Then I started listening to older stuff—Curtis Mayfield, Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder, The Beach Boys (I love their stuff from when it seems like they were taking a little too much acid. Think “Feel Flows”). I was in Europe the first year of college and embraced the euro-dance top 40 somehow, and then wound up obsessing over String Cheese Incident. [Holy hell. Is that really even a band? Is there some sort of element of performance art involved or am I making that up? –ed.] Go figure. I’m bad at “favorites”, but lately I’ve been listening to Metric, The Dirty Projectors, and Miike Snow. I heard some of the new The Dutchess and The Duke record that’s being released in October, which I’m really looking forward to. [Nice plug—that’s almost as good as “foreground music”! –ed.] The first show I ever saw was Willie Nelson with my sister Allie and my Grandpa Kirby. I can’t remember if the last show I saw was Handsome Furs or Beach House @ Sasquatch.

L: You travel a lot. Where all have you been? Is there anywhere you’d like to go that you’ve not been yet?

R: I do love to travel. Living in Switzerland (see below) allowed me to go all over Europe—Italy, France, Luxemburg (quickly), Austria, Turkey, Spain. I just got back from Croatia, Montenegro and Greece. I’ve been really lucky. I love South America. Chile’s one of my favorite places. [Do you say chili or chee-lay? –ed.] I love traveling to places during times of local celebration; like watching the oldest horse race in the world (Il Palio) amidst crazed sweaty Italians in Sienna. I really enjoy being around salt of the earth [you mean poor, don’t you? –ed.] people in another country, watching them celebrate something completely foreign to me. Those are my favorite times abroad. There are so many places I hope to see some day—Paris, Prague, Salzburg, any of Norway, Russia, Thailand, I could go on forever.

L: What’s in store for 40 year old Rosie Torrance? What are your plans for the future?

R: Hmm… I’ll either be crazy aunt Rosie wearing neon spandex inappropriately yelling profanities during one of my sister’s kids’ soccer games while holding one of my many cats, or, I guess I’ve always wanted a couple little tater tots of my own. [It’s been recently proven that tater tots make lousy children. Mold, decomposition, you know, the usual. –ed.] Ideally I’d love to work for myself, make enough money to travel and feed my kids whatever they want, and eat dinner with my family on Sunday nights.

L: Were you ever in therapy? What’d you talk about?

R: Can you call a lobotomy therapy? [Yes, I think that’s exactly what they call it. –ed.]

L: What are your feelings about working here at Sub Pop? How do you find your co-workers? Tell me a crazy story about something that has happened during your time here.

R: Sub Pop’s a great company to work for, but I’d probably quit if Alissa took the beer out of the vending machine. No, really, everyone I work with is really quite amazing. The two people I work with the most closely are JP and Megan. I kid you not; they’re probably the two nicest people I’ve ever met. [You should get out more. –ed.] They also have seriously sick senses of humor. When Megan first asked me if I wanted to be her assistant she said, “Rosie, I just want you to know that there’s a lot of crude humor that goes around. We say “fuck” and “shit” and stuff like that around the office. I just want to make sure that’s okay with you.” The first thing that came out of my mouth was, “Megan, I will “fuck” and “shit” right next to you!” I didn’t know what I was saying at the time, but it was clear that we were going to get along. There have been a few crazy things that have happened. The phone calls up front are pretty consistently wacky. Like when this really creepy dude called and told me he needed Courtney Love’s number because he’s Kurt reincarnate. [Hey, speaking of, buy this! –ed.] Stuff like that happens a lot. David Cross almost got me in some trouble during the SP20 festival. He stole my walkie-talkie and started saying the grossest shit on the “official channel” I was supposed to be using to communicate with Will Call and back stage. That was funny. [Funnier than his set at the comedy show, I hope. Zing. –ed.]

L: Have you lived other places besides Seattle? How were they? Where would you move if you could?

R: I lived in Lugano, Switzerland for a little while during college. What I remember of it was amazing. Certain things [Weed. –ed] are legal in Switzerland if sold as “potpourri” [Weed. –ed], and I had two lovely little potpourri [Weed. –ed] shops very close to my apartment. Luckily my roommate, Kirsten was super organized and she would just tell me what [Weed. –ed] train to get on after class on Fridays and we would go [Smoke weed. –ed] explore. Then I lived in San Francisco for a year before moving back to Seattle. I like living in Seattle [Weed. –ed].

As always, there is a lot happening in the world of Hardly Art. As readers of fashionablemusicblogs will know, just yesterday we made available the first mp3 from the new Le Loup record (Family_, due September 22nd), a lovely little jam we like to call “Beach Town”. Please, listenBeachTown.mp3.

It’s good, right? We thought you might think so, and we have accordingly made the new record available for pre-order over at our website. In addition to releasing this wonderful new record, Le Loup will be crisscrossing this great nation of ours in October—check out tour dates right over here and find the one closest to your house/apartment.

In Hardly Art Bands Touring with Someone Massive News (pt 1), the Dutchess & the Duke will be heading out on a brief tour of Canada and the Midwest next week with none other than indie institution (ind-stitution?) Modest Mouse. Check out details on that mind-blowing tour right here. In addition to spreading their campfire punk to the masses, this tour will be an early chance for loyal Dutchess & the Duke fans to hear some material from their upcoming record Sunset / Sunrise, due October 6th on (of course) Hardly Art.

In Hardly Art Bands Touring with Someone Massive News (pt 2), Boston spazz-punks Pretty & Nice will be hitting the road in September with recently reunited emo-stalwarts the Get Up Kids. Check out that sweet sweet action over here.

If you (like us) are local to Seattle you very probably (like us) love both the Moondoggies and KEXP. Well Seattle friends, you are in luck! On Friday August 21st the Moondoggies will be playing a free show at the Seattle Center, the final installment of KEXP’s Concerts at the Mural Series. Also playing are Sub Pop’s Fruit Bats and Johnny & the Moon —good stuff all around.

Seattle is home to so many great organizations. We’ve blabbed about how much we love The Vera Project, Pasado’s Safe Haven, FareStart and so many others but I don’t think we’ve ever really shared our enthusiasm for the Northwest Film Forum. The Northwest Film Forum is Seattle’s premiere film arts organization, screening over 200 independently made and classic films annually, offering a year-round schedule of filmmaking classes for all ages, and supporting filmmakers at all stages of their careers.

These guys have been around since the mid-nineties and they are second to none. They desperately need everyone’s help in raising $70,000 before August 15th. They’ve made a dent in their goal but they still have a long way to go. Please join us in supporting the Northwest Film Forum. Seattle can’t afford to lose such a great joint. You can donate here.